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FISH CULTUEE 



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PREFACE. 



In presenting the report of S . G. Worth I call attention to 
section 7 of the Act creating the Department of Agriculture 
which charges the Board especially '-With the suj)ervision of 
all measures for the protection, propagation and culture of fish 
in the rivers and other inland waters of this State, and to this 
end they shall at once provide for stocking all available waters 
of the State with the most approved breeds of fishes." Though 
this Act was not ratified till as late as the 12th day of March, 
1877, the services of an expert were secured aud a corps of 
young men of this State as assistants were stationed on Neuse 
river and the hatching of shad began. Prevailing freshets and 
diminutive run of shad interfered with full success of the 
work. 

Since that very great success has been attained not only in 
the propagation of shad but also in the propagation and intro- 
duction of California salmon, land-locked salmon and brook 
trout. For the propagation of the latter varieties a cheap hatch- 
ery was built at Swannanoa Gap in Buncombe county, and two 
seasons of winter work have been completed. The results are 
embodied in the accompanying report. 

Commencing only two years ago without a shad box, distri- 
buting can, or the least preparation of the necessary apparatus 
used in fish culture, or without a man in the State who knew 
the principles of the work, the peojole of the State may congrat- 
ulate themselves on what has been attained. 

I would especially note here that every effort has been official- 
ly made to prevail upon the authorities of the State of South 
Carolina to enjoin upon their Legislature to enact co-operative 
laws that our people might secure a partial benefit from the fish 
of streams running from this State into that. I regret to say 
that not the first response has ever been made. The salmon 



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being more perfectly adapted to the Yadkin, Catawba, Broad 
and Green, over 300,000 have been placed in those waters. 
Without laws prohibiting permanent obstructions and a whole- 
sale destruction of the fish south of our State line, it will be 
necessary to discontinue the release of more fish in those streams. 

It would not only be foolish to pursue our operations there, 
but unfair and unjust. It would be a repetition of the abuses 
on the Connecticut river where money was expended by New 
Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts and the shad increased 
seven times their former number, while the peo2:)le of Connecti- 
cut on the lower waters reaped almost the entire benefits. In 
the laws of Virginia they will make an exception of such streams 
as run into our State unless we remove the obstructions. They 
will place no fish into streams running into this State unless ob- 
structions to the passage of fish are removed and fish-ways or 
other means of crossing dams provided. So I am informed by 
the Fish Commissioner of that State. 

If proper laws are not enacted by our Legislature toward the 
protection of fish it will not and shall not be the fault of the 
Board under which I act. In my recent report to the General 
Assembly which received the unanimous approval and recom- 
mendation of the Board, I entered into the details and offered 
such recommendations as seem to embrace all the requirements 
to subserve the wants of the people of the State in this interest. 
The operations of the last two years have demonstrated the en- 
tire practicability of filling to its utmost capacity every stream 
in the State. One per cent, of the salmon released in this State 
are worth more than our entire out-lay has been, and one per 
cent, of the shad released at twenty-five cents apiece would bring 
over nine thousand dollars. From one end of this State to the 
other streams cover its face like a net-work, evincing the fact 
that the fishing interests can be made one of our greatest in- 
dustries. Successful demonstration proves that one acre of 
water in New^York State is more productive than several acres of 
land, hence any future policy in our governmental affairs which 
fails to take hold of our natural advantages and restore their 



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productiveness will fall short of the progressive strides of the 
day. 

Without depending on the uncertain aid of foreign experts 
whose time is elsewhere in demand, we have trained young men 
who were born and raised here in our own State who are fitted 
for doing all the work within our own borders. 

We need friendly and fostering legislation and with the re- 
commendations before them it remains for the General Assem- 
bly now in session to act. 

L. L. POLK, 

Commissioner of Agriculture. 



REPORT. 



Koi(. L. L. Polk : 

Sir :_ln accordance with your request I submit below the 
operations in Fish Culture in North Carolina since April 1st, 
1878. My immediate presence in the execution of all the work 
done since that date, has given me the advantage of innumera- 
ble facts which bear directly on the future of this work. But I 
have written to you frequently as new points developed, and in 
numerous conversatione have so fully set forth the needs and 
requirements that were pressing, that 1 will not attempt to en- 
ter all of the details in this report. This art is so new that very 
few among us have had an opportunity of looking into it suffi- 
ciently to know its requirements or to pass judgement on past 
o erations. Hence, I infer, is due the honor your honorable 
Board has bestowed on me in leaving the execution and the de- 
tails of the work entirely in my hands. During the past twelve 
months, ending the 1st of April 1879, we have released in the 
North Carolina waters over three and one-half millions of young 
shad, three hundred thousand California Salmon, fifteen thous- 
and five hundred Land-locked Salmon from Maine, and fifty 
thousand Mountain or Brook Trout. All of this was done at an 
expense of less than three thousand dollars, and among the ex- 
penditures was a sum of not less than five hundred dollars in 
permanent structures and hatching and distributing apparatus, 
tools, &c., now on hand, including all salaries. This sum 
when compared with results will bear favorable comparison with 
similar work done any where on the globe. To convey an idea 
of the immense returns in fish culture, I will make a statement 
which may surprise you. California Salmon attain an average 
weight of 20 pounds, and sell readily at twenty-five cents a 
pound. If we suppose that ninety-nine per cent of the three 
hundred thousand hatched this season are never heard from and 



(8) 

that the one per cent which do return attain the average weight 
of other waters and bring a price of five cents a pound, the Sal- 
mon of the past season alune will more than pay the expense of 
the whole season, including the Shad, Land-locked Salmon and 
Trout. The immense losses in the eggs and fry offish seems to 
have been a great foresight of nature in giving to them the 
gieatest ow^beariug powers of any of the vertebrate animals. A 40- 
pound Salmon produces 30,000 eggs annually; the Yellow Perch 
(Raccoon Perch or Red-fin Trout) 20,000 to 30,000; AVhite 
fish of the Great Lakes 60,000 to 70,000; Shad 30,000; Carp over 
300,000; Mackerel over 500,000; Turbot and Cod about 
9,000,000; Sturgeon 7,000,000, and a species of Mullet 13,000,- 
000 ! These figures are from scientists and fi^h-culturists, and 
an annual value of the fish-catch of the world, amounting to 
$120,000,000, will convey some idea of the millions and millions 
of eggs annually produced Irom a mass of fis?h aggregating so 
many millions of dollars. On examination of the nests of the 
California Salmon it is found that only eif/ht yter cent ot the eggs 
are impregnated. By the artificial method of inipregnaHon we 
secure ninety to ninety-five per cent ! After impregnation by 
the natural method the eggs are left a prey to enemies of innu- 
merable numbers. Shad eggs are exposed thiee to five days, and 
our common pond fishes twenty to thirty, and the Salmon fifty 
to seventy. After hatching, these fish are helpless, some a few 
days, (shad a week) some for months as in the case of Salmon, 
Mountain Trout and fall-spawning- fish generally. By the arti- 
ficial methods they are not only almost entirely impregnated, 
but they are kept in cones, troughs and other vessels, and each 
day the dead removed and further communication of fungoid 
growth stopped. And when the young are ready to go out they 
are conveyed to head streams, where other fish are scarce and 
where cold water suppresses the numerous hosts of insects and 
crustacenas that abound in the lower and warmer waters. We 
can see readily, that feiv arrive at maturity, when we recall that 
one single sturgeon produces seven million eggs and that a num- 
ber less than ten thousand are taken annually in the Cape Fear. 
Few realize the value of fish, but a moment of reflection will 
show that they cost us nothing, and that by replacing them in 



(9) 

the waters by aiding their imperfect efforts we restore to our 
land at a nominal cost its millions of wealth that our streams 
annually bear away to the ocean. Who knows the value of the 
constituents of our gliding rivers, and by what means can we 
reclaim it ? By the judicious expenditure of a few thousand 
dollars annually we can attain it. If our people look tins year 
for any return from what has been done, they must remember 
that the patient farmer sows his seed and waits till they have 
had time to develope and mature. No shad return in one year, 
and indeed no roe shad ever returned to fresh water till the 
third year. 

Long ago fish became scarce as the population of Europe in- 
creased and fish culture there is an estaUished thing. Millions 
of fry are annually liberated from their hatching houses, and 
such judicious laws have been made as to foster and protect 
them. In Great Britain a river yielding in 1853 less than 2,000 
Salmon was made to produce in 1866 upwards of 20,000. The 
Tay then leasing for 143,500 came up in 1866 to 175,000; and in 
Ireland in 1866 one thousand tons of Salmon were transported 
against almost none ten years previous. In the United States 
we find shad now flourishing in the Sacramento river in Califor- 
nia, where they were unknown till placed there in 1871. The 
first results seen on the Connecticut from artificial propagation 
of shad increased the usual catch seven fold. Twenty-five 
thousand shad were taken in one locality one morning and the 
Northern markets were overstocked and the price of eighteen 
dollars per hundred reduced to three ! In that river the Sal- 
mon had entirely disappeared, but in 1872''73 fry were intro- 
duced and since that time sufficient numbers of 12 to 18 pounds 
weight have returned to justify increased operations. The 
fruits of past work are also being seen on the Delaware, Susque- 
hanna and all other streams where the fish have had time to ma- 
ture and return. On the Merrimack a dam of 25 feet height 
completely cut off the passsage of Salmon to their spawning 
grounds, and for thirty years not one was seen, but by introduc- 
ing the fry from other streams they have found that upwards of 



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one thousand went over the fishway on the same dam in the first 
year of their return. 

Propagation by the artificial method is an outgrowth of neces- 
sity. A hundred years ago every stream from the St, Johns to 
the St. Lawrence teamed with its thousands of shad. To-day 
they bave become so scarce that we are compelled to resort to 
the largest fisheries in the land to obtain enough spawn to make 
our work profitable. In the absence of any data relative to the 
run of shad in our own waters in former days, I will state that 
the catch of shad on tlie Potomac in 1835 was 2'? 500,000, which 
contrasts severely with any season approaching the jiresent. The 
alarming decrease in numbers of fish, when brought before the 
Congress of the United States and fully impressed, at once led 
to the creation of a commission for the purpose of enquiring 
into their decrease, and for the institution of measures for their 
increase and protection; hence originated the United State 
Commission of Fish and Fisheries which has been the great mo- 
tive power and educator in this branch ever since. Twenty- 
seven States are now actively engaged in resto.;king their waters, 
and I am glad to say that with limited means we have made 
& very decided beginning in North Carolina in two short years. 
With the finest sliad fishing grounds in the world, and many 
secluded mountr.in streams yet full of trout we are ful- 
ly capable of su])])lying every county in the State 
with as many fish as the jjcoplc can consume. In view of the 
fact that the shad caught in our waters sell in northern mar- 
kefs before the rtm of fish has extended into their streams, and 
since our sales there bring double the price of theirs by sup- 
plying the early demand, it is very plain to be seen that in re- 
stocking our sounds and rivers to ten times their present capac- 
ity^, we can supply every demand at home and bring into our 
State thousands of dollars from aljroad. As the truck-farms of 
the south are annually reducing the value of like products on 
those further nortli, in sui)plying tlie ready demand for early 
vegetables and fruits, so will the fisheries of Albemarle sound 
and other Avaters, in like manner reap large cash sums of 
money from northern markets if the millions of eggs now an- 



(11) 

■Tinally wasted on the sein beaches, are only hatched and cared 
for. 

The taking and hatching of the many millions of eggs \ y the 
United States Commission last season, was simply saving the 
millions, not one of which would otherwise have produced a 
fish, 

SHAD. 

Early in April, in compliance with instructions from you, I 
repaired to the Albemarle Sound, with a few assistants to work 
in conjunction with the United States Fish Commission, that 
of the State of Maryland and that of Virginia. The gathering of 
ova which re<juires a special out-fit in the way of a steam launch 
-and a number of small boats and an efficient working force 
of ten to twenty men, and the hatching of the ova involving a 
great variety of equipments and a good working force. to operate, 
were conducted entirely under the auspices of the United States 
Government and the State of Maryland. 

The United States Deputy Commissioner, executing the 
work, having an active force of distributing messengers 
at command hurriedly pushed all shipments possible, to the 
more southern States. He doing general G-overnment work in 
which the whole country is alike interested, manifestly did his 
duty in making an extended outlay of sevenal millions of shad 
while the weather was yet cool. At length when the shad com- 
menced spawing in great numbers the young fry accumulated 
faster than th3 United Sates Messengers C3uld ^.-et them; away 
and then we were granted the right to take into the interior of 
the State all v/c could. Bat, young shad, after ten days of age, 
require food, and cannot be safely carried, and further than 
this, forty-two hours had to be consumed in making a round 
trip to Franklin Virginia, on each shipment — only seventy-five 
miles distant. Hence it folio \ved, that the great bulk of fish on. 
hand had necessarily to be consigned to immediate waters. To 
get a larger number into more suitable points of release will rc- 
/]uire a standing force of not less than ten men who shall be 



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stationed at or near the hatchery ready at the proper moment to 
move half a million at a single dash. I do not call into ques- 
tion the wisdom of your Honorable Board in limiting the amount 
of expenditures on the coming spring operations; yet in view of 
not being able to determine the particular time at which shad 
begin to spawn. First, it is necessary to station a force on th« 
sound early enough to loose nothing. Second, since we get fry 
for our streams only at intervals when the United States men 
cannot move them and when rapid execution is necessary, a 
smaller force than ten men would be of little efficient service. 
Third, this work requires character, intelligence and willing- 
ness to undergo work full of hardship and exposure to weather, 
and such matenal, ought at least to have a reasowfl'^Ze compensa- 
tion; and while we placed into North Carolina waters nearly 
four million shad at a nominal cost compared with the benefits 
to follow, and while we will promptly carry out the designs of 
your Honorable Board in like manner in the work immediately 
before us, it is yet a serious matter of regret that we are obliged 
to look calmly on at the operations of the United States work 
ar.d see annually ten to twenty million shad fry shipped out of 
Korth Carolina to replete the water of other States, when for 
two thousand dollars economically applied every one of these 
could be turned into the fine headwaters of our own streams. 
No State in the world has a better showing to j^/? all its steams, 
than this State has from the immense fisheries on the Albemarle 
TouTid. A beginning has there been made in permanent 
hatching structures, by the erection of a tank of the very best 
quality with cones for hatching the eggs. 

MOUNTAIN OK BKOOK TROUT. 

After earnest entreaty on my part, it was agreed last June 
that I should be allowed to collect as cheaply as possible some of 
our fne brook trout — yet abundant in our most retired western 
streama lor spawn taking purposes. Accordingly I spent sever- 
al Aveeks in some of the wiklest mountain gorges of the State. In 
the more settled portions they have become scarce and some of 



(13) 

the finest procured were carried from the lieadwaters of Tow 
river at the base of Mitchell's peak directly up the side of the 
Blue Eidge within three hundred yards of the Pinnacle I 
was accompanied by a small party and we relieved each other by 
tiirns. These fish we carried on our shoulders four miles up the 
Ridg-e and three miles down accomplishing a trip in ten hours 
and thirty minutes. On an average the water was renewed every 
seven minutes and when it is remembered that we had to wade 
the streams and follow a course tliat only men reared in those 
mountains could follow, it may well be 'realized that in conjunc- 
tion with the highest summer heat ever known there, that the 
undertaking was of a severe nature. 

Owing to the streams being -fished out" at so late a season as 
July 3rd and fish being scarce, and the high summer heat and 
slow transit over the rocky and in many places nearly impassable 
roads, I could not get any vast number, and of those I did get, 
many were lost through the last mentioned agencies. I secured 
over 2000 fish, but from deaths from various causes, including 
injuries m the brain from the hook, they only numbered 1400 
HI September. 8ineo then the deaths have ceased. For 
the purpose of sortin- these I built three cheap ponds for their 
accommodation. I began to take ova from these on the 29th 
day of October at the Salmon Hatchery at Swannanoa Gap. I 
+ook but ten thousand, when the fish became so wild that they 
Avould no longer enter the spawning races, and I was obliged to 
stop.^ It was not advisable to net them owing to the fact that 
the Salmon from California were hatched in the house below, 
and I deemed it unsafe to stir up the bottom and send down an 
epidemic— in-oducing volume of impure gases which had form- 
ed from waste meats in feeding the trout previously. I do not 
know what number were left in the trout but probably sixty 
thousand. Young trout have just hatched from those eggs. 
Besides tliose the 50,000 trout eggs ordered from New 
riampsliire are now hatched, save 10,000 which becama solidly 
frozen up in tli- cold weather from January 2nd to 8th They 
are yet on hand at the Hatcliery at Swannanoa Gap, being too 
young to go into the streams. 



(14) 

Witli the knowledge attained this season, which was my first 
experience with trout, and with care and feeding the trout 
through the spring and summer and increasing their size, at 
least 200,000 eggs can he taken from them next fall, while the 
salmon are heing hatched. If we were to purchase thisnumher 
from the north they would not cost less than six hundred dollars- 
Farther than this the trout in the ponds will produce a greater 
number of eggs each season. Our hatching house building is 
of the most inferior quality, but was constructed for experimen- 
tal work and has answered all purposes so far; but as nothing 
but running hranch water is used, its temperature is so reduced 
in cold weather as to freeze solid in troughs, house and ponds 
without incessant labor right and day while the cold spells pre- 
vail. The troughs, reser-s'oir and supply troughs are common 
and leaky ancUhe ice formed eighteen inches thick on our entire 
floor, even encroaching on our office,freezingsix inches thick and 
remaining a month in the bunks made for our sleeping accom- 
modation, and within four feet of a stove in which a fire burn- 
ed night and day for weeks. I respectfully recommend that we 
may have a new building and at a i)oint at which we may get 
spring water and be near enough a market to buy necessary 
articles without having to ])ay double their value to get them to 
lis; also where we can get fish food regularly and cheai)ly. At at 
elevation of 2G00 feet we may resonably look for cold weather 
every winter, and tlie house cannot be carried safely through 
another winter of equal severity with the present. 

CALIFORNIA SALMON. 

On the 8th of Oct. 1878, 315,000 California salmon eggs reached 
Henry's and I commenced the regular winter season with Mr. 
C. J. Huske, of Fayetteville, assisting. On tbe 9th of October 
an additional number of 52,500 of the same eggs came, making 
a total of 367,500. These eggs were allotted to North Carolina 
by Prof. S. F. Baird, Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries of the 
United States. They are t;i,ken annually to the number of five 
to seven millions on the McCloud river, California, under in- 



(15) 

structions from Prof. Baird. His idea has been that this salmon 
will ascend our warm Southern streams, and the eggs coming 
from the general fund cost us nothing Ijut express charges. 
Last season over two hundred and thirty thonsand-Avere turned 
loose in our waters and althougli this seasun one crate of 52,500 
were almost a total loss from over-heating while en route, the 
rest turned out in a most gratifying manner and we released 
upwards of 300,000. In the hatching ponds at Swannanoa 
Gap I have eiglit of those hatched last fall, and many were seen 
last summer in the streams in Avliich they had been released. 
They are six inches long and much more active than the moun- 
tain trout. I am reliably informed that a few of this same 
variety placed into Dr. I). W. C. Benbow's pond, near Greens- 
boro, in the fall — winter of 1875, measured at two years of age 
nineteen inches in length. At that time they had been in fresh 
water six months longer than nature provides, and demon 5trated 
their power to live even in as warm water as our midland streams 
afford. 

On reference to the report of the Commissioner of Fisheries 
of California, of 1877, it will be found that this species has been 
converted into a fresh water fish when effectually cut off from 
the lower waters, but I am rather inclined to believe it would 
do so in our waters in pure, clear mountain streams only. Thus 
changed they attained a weight of as much as ten pounds. As 
before stated the California salmon attains naturally an average 
Aveight of twenty pounds. The larger ones attain forty, sixty 
a'ld sometimes seventy pounds. The young remain in fresh water 
about eighteen months and then pass down to the sea. Here 
they remain till groAvn when they return in the fall months to 
spawn. A large number have been seen in Atlantic rivers al- 
ready, and if their introduction proves a complete success Ave 
will have at our doors the finest fish in thcAvorld. Why it shall 
not live here I cannot see. Full three fourths of the plants, 
cereals, vegetables and grasses on Avhich man and other animals 
live are imported. There is a vast revenue derived from salmon 
on rivers where they have not been recklessly destroyed. The 
salmon of the Columbia river, Oregon, arc yet abundant and 
furnished a fcAv seasons back in amounts, canned, thirteen mil- 



(16) 

lion pounds. I earnestly desire that every measure may be 
taken by your honorable Board to protect those now in our 
streams, and to allow us to continue the hatching and distribut- 
ing of this valuable species each succeeding year. The number 
of this Yariety placed in our waters in the winter season of 
1877-'78 Avere two hundred and thirty-four thousand. They 
were hatched at the Swannanoa hatchery by Mr. W. F. Page, 
of Virginia, who superintended that, our first season in salmon. 

LAND-LOCKED SALMON. 

The fifteen thousand live hundred salmon of this name were 
brought from the Maryland State hatchery the first week in 
April last. They had been liatched at the Druid Hill Hatchery 
under the supervision of Maj. T. B. Ferguson. Those who 
know the excellent flavor and qualities of this and the California 
salmon, will aj)preciate the character and importance of the 
task we have undertaken. The land-locked salmon is not migra- 
tory in its habits, but remains exclusively in fresh, clear and 
cold waters. Tney attain a weight of several pounds and take 
both the baited hook and artificial flies. For the head streams 
of our rivers taking rise west of Greensboro this fish seems en- 
tirely adapted, and 1 respectfully recommend that more atten- 
tion be given it in our future operations. They can be hatched 
simultaneously with the California salmon and mountain trout. 

FLSH THAT OUGHT TO BE FOSTEKED. 

I would respectfully call attention to the importance of rock 
fish and sturgeon. These are native fish and can be made of 
immense value in the streams of this State. 

It may not be generally known that the rock fish remains in 
our streams half of the year, they ascend in the fall and remain 
till the shad season is joast. From what I learn there is no 
doubt that tlieir spawn can be obtained in abundance on the 
Eoanoke river near Weldon. The immense number of eggs 
found in sturgeon leads to a positive assurance that we could 



(17) 

increase them to an almest unlimited extent. I do not profess 
any keen relish for them as food, but I have noticed that at the 
most successful fisheries in the State, they always were taken off 
and sold or eaten on the beach. They subsist by suction, liv- 
ing on decayed matter, animal and vegetable, and could exist 
by thousands above the present number and not only find an 
abundance of food, but would consume that which would not 
otherwise be utilized. There are some who regard sturgeon as 
a good article of food and others pronounce it a delicacy. I am 
very positive that no article of food is more wholesome and the 
oil from them is always utilized and sells for a price that is al- 
ways sufficient to insure its being boiled out. In my opinion it 
can be made of equal value with any other fish in our waters. 

Under this head I will here state that the people of this com- 
monwealth are making so many urgent requests for fish for pri- 
vate ponds, that it becomes my duty to call the fact to the atten- 
tion of your Board. Acting under the requirements of the present 
law, creating and setting forth the operations of this part of 
your Department, it has been conceived to be right, to handle 
only such fish as were of greatest commercial value and of great- 
est importance to the people at large. That we should not be 
enabled to aid in perfecting the efforts of individuals, who have 
recently become enlivened to the the importance of enriching 
their waters, is a matter of regret. Parties all over the State have 
built ponds for this purpose and others who hare fine sheets of 
water are constantly making application. In view of the fact 
that many of the percoid family of fishes already in our waters, 
are of fine flavor and respectable size, and could with a moder- 
ate sum be propagated at a hatchery in some eastern or midland 
county with very great success, I take the liberty of calling 
the matter up, hoping that it may receive your commendation 
and that of the people, so that when the next General Assembly 
convenes we may have our field enlarged and our labors made 
profitable in almost every township throughout the State. 



(18) 



IS THE INTERIOR OF THE STATE ENTITLED TO THE RESULTS &¥ 
THIS WORK ? 

Id answer to this it may be emphatically said that without our 
streams are opened to their sources, and all obstructions to the 
passage and destruction of fish removed, they cannot receive, 
except in an indirect way any benefit from what we are doing. 
To those who occupy the large fisheries in the sounds and lower 
rivers and reap the "Harvest of the Sea" by hundreds of thous- 
ands, this question is of (/re«;'er importance. The decrease, now so 
alarmingly apparaut is due, more to the obstructions above than 
to any other cause. Shad and sturgeon formerly ascended the 
Catawba and Yadkin almost to their head waters. Nature di- 
rected them to the pure clear water, where on gravelly bottoms 
the eggs would successfully hatch and escape the myriads of 
enemies below. By ina-.'s agency they have been cut off and the 
result is sadly felt. A general 1 ivv riquiring all owners of dams 
to build a sluice-way over each, niter a pattern prescribed by 
your board is our only hope. Such a m "!el as you suggest can 
be made to answer the offices of its design. Existing laws regu- 
lating the construction of fish ways cannot be carried into exe" 
cution, and equity preserved. It should be the duty of one in- 
dividual to supervise the construction of each way, that experience 
in the de<ails may conduce to economy ia their construction and 
that the water powers may suff ,^r no injurv. In an act re- 
quiring the above, there shoi'Id be also the requirement that 
these ways shoiiKi be kept open from February 1st to June 1st, 
and at all other times when wat.n- is sufficient to allow it. I 
would respectfully call your attention to the fish way recently 
invented by Col. M. McDonald Fish Commissioner of Vir- 
ginia. It is an unquestionable success, and this, many have 
sought after and utterly failed in. As fish naturally go down 
stream into deeper waters as winter approaches, the constant and 
never-ceasing tendency is to leave above each succeeding year 
the puny offspring of fast-growing inferior ancestry. 

Tlie dams stand as barriers and destroyers and if the remedy 
is not applied our annual supply will necessarily be on th» 



(19) 

diminishing scale. The importance of this measure bears on 
every inhabitant of the State and cannot be too urgently press- 
ed. The labors of this work are for the people and unless the 
dams are deprived of their objectionable feature they will be de- 
nied that, which we cannot with our powers afford them. Co- 
operative laws in South Carolina must be obtained or the in- 
habitants of the upper waters of tlie Yadkin, Catawba, Broad 
and Green Eivers will never reap the treasures of those streams. 
Unless the laws of that State regulating fishing and the removal 
of obstructions are enacted before the results of our work have 
become an object, we will never secure them. Over three hun- 
dred thovsand California salmon have been released in waters 
running through that State. It would be a pity to lose all of 
them. With such laws and enough funds to run our work on 
a legitimate basis we will fill every stream in the State. No 
State can boast finer waters, besides the Chowan, Nottoway, 
T:ir, Neuse, Cape Fear. Yadkin and Catawba, smaller streams 
fill up all the gaps between, and inlets and sounds indent a coast 
line for hundreds of miles. Go to the Linville, John's, Swan- 
nanoa, Tuckaseege, Nantihala, Pacolet, Green and Broad and 
you find waters as pure, clear and limpid as the world affords- 
We have now the skill and appliances to restore them to their 
former abundance. 

In conclusion I will ask you to secure if possible a law pre- 
venting the use of explosives in the capture and destruction of 
fish in North Carolina waters ; also to prevent the destruction 
of any of the salmon we have introduced into our waters, 
making not the capture but po.^scssio?i the offence. The reasons, 
for protecting them are manifest. 

Below will be found a table showing what dssposition we 
have made of the fish released in the waters of this State. It 
includes some work of the United States Fish Commission, and 
of Mr. Frank N. Clark and W. F. Page who had charge of the 
work during the first two seasons. 

I would call to your special attention the earnest and faithful 
labors of Chas. J. Huske, Wm. M. Russ and Thomas Taylor 
who have shown character, willingness and determination while 
aiding in the prosecution of our work. 



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Special acknowledgments are due to the friends of our depart- 
■ment_]at Henry's and the Swannanoa Gap without whose cheer- 
ful assistance we would not only have been constantly in many 
difficulties (which there were numberless) but to them is also 
due'the'preservation of half our salmon during the freezing 
weather in January. Thanks are also due to Maj. J. W. Wil- 
son, President of the Western North Carolina railroad and to 
all the officers along the line whose effective aid will be remem- 
bered. Also to the officials of the Charlotte & Atlanta Air Line 
and of the Spartanburg & Asheville railroad and to Mr. Frank 
Coxe of Charlotte. Also to officials of the Raleigh & Gaston 
railroad^T-nd of the Wilmington & Weldon railroad, and to the 
gentlemen controlling the steamers of the Albemarle Steam 
Navigation Company, and to the various railroad officials 
throughout the State. In almost every locality into which our 
operations have taken us we have met with cordial and enthusi- 
astic support from citizens of all classes. 

To Dr. W. E. Capehart is due much of our success on the 
Albemarle Sound. His efforts to concentrate operations at his 
fisheries were supported by his untiring efforts to make our work 
a success. 

I am respectfully yours, 

S. G. WORTH. 



APPENDIX. 



DISTRIBUTION OF FRY. 

SHAD.* 

Prior to the establishment of this department, the United 
States Fish Commission distributed to our waters, as follows : 

May, 1873, Neuse River, . . . 43,000 

May, 1876, Neuse River, . . . 98,000 

June, 1876, Catawba River, . . . 72,000 

SEASON OF 1877-78. 

Neuse River, May, 1877, . . . 134,000 

Yadkin River, July, " . . . • 73,000 

Haw '< c' a .... 70,000 

Catawba '' -^i i< ^ ^ ^ _ 67,000 

Contentnea Creek, July, 1877, . • . • 52,000 

Tar River, July, 1877, .... 50,000 

Nottoway River, April 11th, 1878, . . . 111,000 

Roanoke " ..*.<<_ _ ^ 139,000 

Neuse '• '' 12th, "... 100,000 

Meherrin " " " " . . . 150,000 

Salmon Creek, " 15th, " . . . 120,000 



* The seemingly undue proportion released in the vicinity of Avoca was una- 
voidable. The young fry had to he transported a distance of ahout eighty miles 
by water to reach a railroad, and it employed the time of the messengers, day and 
night, to keep the hatcheries clear. The run and catch of the spawners was af- 
fected greatly by the state of the weather, A heavy catch, especially towards the 
close of the season, would sometimes occur when the l^oxes and apparatus were 
employed to their fullest capacity, and if the steamboats and messengers were 
not at hand, the fry had to be released to make room for the new supply of eggs. 



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Neuse Eiver, April 20th, 1878, . . . 50,000 

Tar '' " 22d, " . . 100,000 

-Salmon Creek, •' 24tli, . , . 800,000 

" " 25th, "... 200,000 

Chowan Eiver, '' 25th, " . . . 200,000 

Albemarle S-ound, " 25th, "... 115,000 

Roanoke River, " 26th, " . . . 250,000 

Salmon Creek, " 26th, "... 25,000 

Albemarle Sound, " 26th, " . . . 70,000 

f Six Runs, N. E. Cape Eear, April 26th, 1878 . 100,000 

t Goshen Creek, N. F. Cape Fear, April 26th, 1878, 100,000 

Salmon " April 28th, 1878, . . 300,000 

" " 29th, *' . . . 18,000 

" 30th, " . . 45,000 

Tar River, May 2d, . . . . 150,000 

Yadkin River, June 8th, . . . 50,000 

■Catawba River, June 10th, . . . 50,000 

Making a total of . . . 3,|02,000 

CALIFORNIA SALMON — WINTER OF 1877-'78. 

Dec, 1877— Yadkin River, . . . 60,b00 

" " Pigeon " . . * . 10,000 

Broad " . . . 25,doO 

Swannanoa " . . . 27,00^ 

-Jan., 1878— Capo Fear "... 20,000 

" " Linville " . . ■ . 12,000 

John's " . . • 30,000 

Catawba " . . . 50,000 

Total; .... 234,000 



t The only accessible points of release . 



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CALIFORlvIA SALMON — WINTER OF 1878-'79. 

To Green River, on the S. & A. Railroad, . 30,000 

" Broad " at the month of Reedy Patch Creek, 45,000 

" Linville " near Bridgewater, . . 30,000 

^* John's " 12 miles from Morganton, . 30,000 

" Yadkin " at Patterson's, . . . 60,000 

" Deep " at Jamestown, . . . 05,000 

" Town Creek, at Germanton, . . . 20,000 

'' Dan River, near Danbury, . . . 20,000 



Total, 300,000 

LAND-LOCKED SALMON — APRIL 5TH, 1878. 

April, 1878— John's River, . . 1,000 

Linville '* . . . 4,400 

Mayo " . . 3,000 

Dan " . . . 3,000 

Ponds near Charlotte. . . . 500 

" Greensboro, . . . 2,000 

" " Morganton, ... 600 

" " Salisbury, . . . 1,000 



Total, .... 15,500 



NOTES ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF PRIVATE FISH 

PONDS. 

Hon. L. L. Polk: 

Sir: — In obedience to yonr request to furnish some practical 
hints about the construction and management of private fish 
ponds I will make a few brief suggestions. The numerous 
letters you have received show a general interest throughout the 
State, but this is especially the case in the middle section. 

When popular opinion becomes stronger in favor of fish cul- 



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cule, better facilities will be offered for the attainment of improv- 
ed breeds for stocking ponds. At present it is not only imprac- 
ticable to obtain suitable fry for this purpose, but there are very 
few who know how to undertake stocking with native fish. The 
conditions to be preserved are these: 

Dams that will stand. 

Small areas of water. 

Introduction of limited varieties of fish. 

Ability at all times to draw off the water. 

Preparation of gravelly places for spawning. 

Introduction of water plants. 

Protection. 

Drive wooden piling to build the dam on and make a waste- 
way sufficient to carry all surplus water. Protect the waste- way 
with wire netting. In most instances it does not matter if the 
bottom of the pond is muddy and especially in the case of bream 
and blue perch. All the banks several feet out from the water's 
edge and foot under the water should be scraped clean to the 
sand with a hoe to dislodge crawfish, terrapins, and snakes. For 
ordinary purposes small ponds are preferable. Where one or a 
number of these can be arranged on clear sandy streams a single 
variety may be introduced into each and the young annually re- 
moved to larger ponds. The great lo?s in fish is in the 
eggs. A single variety in a small ^ of an acre pond can increase 
and avoid depredations of other fish. Our native perch deposit 
twenty to thirty thousand eggs. No effectual means of extermina- 
ting the jack fish can be used, except the careful and thorough 
preparation of [a flood gate of medium size, protected 
over the face of out-flow with wire cloth. Every two years 
the water should be lowered and the fish sorted out, and jack 
fish and pike removed. I believe jack fish eggs are carried by 
some mechanical means into various waters, as perhaps by cling- 
ing <"o the feet of water-fowl. 

Gravel or sand beds in the shallow water near the inlet will 
afford natural spawning grounds. If not present it should be 
put there. 

Water plants afford numberless insects and should be intro- 



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duced from neighboring places. They are well known and 
easily obtained. 

King-fishers, herrons and other birds will only be kept away 
by locating in a frequented place. 

The black perch is found on the Yadkin, Catawba and other 
western steams and will make a success in ponds. Also the large 
trout, chub, or green bass will pay. In the middle and lower 
sections the white perch, is generally present in the main streams. 
Wherever it is found in ponds it attains a size of one to two 
pounds. In the lower portion of the State I would unhesiat- 
tingly recommend this and the bream and bine perch above all 
others. Any of these are excellent as food and have firm flesh. 
Many other fine perch are susceptible of cultivation and can be 
raised in ponds with slight attention. A pond on the 
plantation of Mr. Roweil near Wilmington contains a very sur- 
prising number of fish in a very limited space. There are eleven 
varieties in the pond or there would be a greater number. He 
gives them a few grass-hoppers, about once a week, and the one- 
eighth acre in the pond would furnish a considerable family the 
year round. The young fish are at times removed to his mill 
pond. 

Willow trees or others that attract insects should be planted 
near fish ponds. 

No better food than catterpillars can be found. All the perch 
and chub are fond of mulberries — the cheapness of which ren- 
ders them important. 

Three or four small ponds are greatly preferred to one large 
one. 

In introducing fish into a pond to answer as food for larger 
ones the smaller varieties of perch are to be preferred . 

There is no work which treats fully on this subject, but my 
own knowledge of what has been accomplished in this way 
shows that fish of any variety placed into a pond and not en- 
tirely neglected will prove a source of pleasure and profit. 

Large fish cannot be carried safely without using very large 
buckets or barrels and by applying changes of water. In carry- 
ing them in warm weather frequent changes are necessary, but 
sudden changes of temperature must be avoided. When a 




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change is made, it is better to remove only a portion of the 
water and make changes oftener. With care they can be car- 
ried a number of hours without material loss. 
Yours respectfully, 

S. G. WOETHo 



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002 858 156 7 



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